Once Upon a Time (and Not Any Time Either!)

Okay, here's what this old man remembers nearly a quarter of a century later. I was living in New York City (as I still am) when, on September 11, 2001, two hijacked planes full of

tomdispatch.com

Once Upon a Time (and Not Any Time Either!)

Okay, here's what this old man remembers nearly a quarter of a century later. I was living in New York City (as I still am) when, on September 11, 2001, two hijacked planes full of

tomdispatch.com

After America

While Washington’s war with Iran drags on, month after month, without any end in sight, the world is witnessing the very real limits of U.S. global power. As President Donald Trump lurches repeatedly ...

tomdispatch.com

About That Arc of the Moral Universe

This is my last article for TomDispatch. For over a decade, Tom Engelhardt has given me a platform to write about pretty much anything that grabs my -- I’ll admit it, easily attracted -- attention.

tomdispatch.com

Donald (Disaster) Trump

Donald Trump's America is a scary place in significant part thanks to an unholy alliance of MAGA devotees who don’t believe in science and see intellectuals as public enemy number one, and a gaggle of

tomdispatch.com

Donald (Disaster) Trump

Donald Trump's America is a scary place in significant part thanks to an unholy alliance of MAGA devotees who don’t believe in science and see intellectuals as public enemy number one, and a gaggle of

tomdispatch.com

A Short History of Sportswriting (from Bat Masterson to Shams Charania)

When Chinese leaders claim that the American empire is in decline, I immediately assume their analysts are decoding dispatches from ESPN, The Athletic, and columnist Shams Charania. After all, it’s in...

tomdispatch.com

Pete Hegseth’s Desperate Crusade for Masculine Validation

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump surveyed his top military brass on the prospect of making war in Iran. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine urged caution, presciently pred...

tomdispatch.com

Is the U.S. Heading Toward a Hard Landing?

Ever since North Korea suffered through the death of its first leader in 1994, a loss magnified by an economic collapse and a devastating famine, outside observers have likened the country to an airpl...

tomdispatch.com

Butter (and Schools), Not Guns (and Warfare)

Guns or butter. Butter or guns. Can we have both? If not, which should come first? Consider it one of those chicken-and-egg conundrums of modern society. “Guns” is the stand-in for a well-funded milit...

tomdispatch.com

The Electric Car Is the Only Winner in the Latest Iran War

After British troops had beaten German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s tank forces at the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt on November 4, 1942, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared, “Thi...

tomdispatch.com

The Electric Car Is the Only Winner in the Latest Iran War

After British troops had beaten German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s tank forces at the Second Battle of El Alamein in Egypt on November 4, 1942, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared, “Thi...

tomdispatch.com

Now You See Them… Now You Don’t

It’s been a tough couple of months for women officials in Washington -- or, more accurately, in Trumpland. In early March (Women’s History Month, by the way), in a Truth Social post, the president fir...

tomdispatch.com

A World of Violence

[The following passages are excerpted from Eduardo Galeano’s book Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History (Nation Books).] The Shoe(January 15) In 1919 Rosa Luxemburg, the revolutionary, was...

tomdispatch.com

Gangs and Climate Change, Born in the USA

Recently, I had the opportunity to stand in a friend’s kitchen eating pupusas, the Salvadoran national food, while listening to an update on conditions in Central America from Cristosal's Noah Bullock...

tomdispatch.com

A World in Trumple Deep

Unlike every other TomDispatch piece, this one won't be broken up with section titles for a simple reason. It's all about Donald J. Trump and when it comes to him, in this strange world of ours,

tomdispatch.com

A World in Trumple Deep

Unlike every other TomDispatch piece, this one won't be broken up with section titles for a simple reason. It's all about Donald J. Trump and when it comes to him, in this strange world of ours,

tomdispatch.com

The Global War on Terror’s Journey Home

America’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been receiving lots of scrutiny right now from journalists and ordinary citizens like me -- and for good reason! Detaining people en route to their ...

tomdispatch.com

Reining in the Pentagon

Even as Congress moves to increase the Pentagon budget well beyond the astronomical levels proposed by the Biden administration, a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has outlined th...

shorturl.fm

American "Micro-Militarism"

Writing more than 2,000 years ago, the Greek historian Plutarch gave us an eloquent description of what modern historians now call “micro-militarism.” When an imperial power like Athens then, or Ameri...

tomdispatch.com

"You Dirty ORANGE Maniac! You Blew It All Up! Damn You to Hell!"

When he's on full blast, Donald Trump (not so long ago the "drill, baby, drill" candidate for president) is distinctly a furnace.  And he seems intent on turning this planet, our only world, into a

shorturl.fm

"You Dirty ORANGE Maniac! You Blew It All Up! Damn You to Hell!"

When he's on full blast, Donald Trump (not so long ago the "drill, baby, drill" candidate for president) is distinctly a furnace.  And he seems intent on turning this planet, our only world, into a

shorturl.fm

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor…

In late March, I sat in the gallery of the Supreme Court for the first time in my life. Throughout my 30 years of grassroots anti-poverty work, I've joined countless protests and vigils outside the

tomdispatch.com

Trump As The GOAT

Seventy-five years ago, my father and I gazed down from the stands at Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle in the outfield at Yankee Stadium. I was thrilled by the sight of two heroes of my

tomdispatch.com

From an Old Journalist, Another Letter to the Tribe

A few weeks before the 2020 presidential election, I wrote "An Open Letter to My Old Tribe," urging "every reporter who is covering this election at any level" to focus on a crucial question -- whether

tomdispatch.com

From an Old Journalist, Another Letter to the Tribe

A few weeks before the 2020 presidential election, I wrote "An Open Letter to My Old Tribe," urging "every reporter who is covering this election at any level" to focus on a crucial question -- whether

tomdispatch.com

Trump’s Game for War

A couple of wars ago, when I gave readings from my book War Is Not a Game, I sometimes tried to liven things up by asking the audience to guess which of the names I

tomdispatch.com

The Leadership Team from Hell on a Hell of a Planet

On March 13th, buried in the New York Times’s coverage of the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict was a headline that would have been easy to miss amid the din of war coverage: “As El Niño Simmers, Scientists

shorturl.fm

The World's Most Unbelievable Science Fiction Novel

Honestly, I can't believe I'm in this world of ours (or do I mean His?). Yes, this very one and no other! Almost a quarter of a century after, in response to the 9/11 attacks, the

tomdispatch.com

From Baghdad to Albany

I'm writing this piece well into President Donald Trump's new war with Iran, which, with the help of Israel, has already killed more than 2,000 civilians, including 175 schoolgirls and staff; displace...

shorturl.fm